Hudson’s Bay relaunched the Zellers discount brand in 2023.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Canadian Tire Corp.’s CTC-A-T $30-million deal to acquire the intellectual property of Hudson’s Bay includes a profusion of trademarks, brand names, logos and slogans, as well as private labels such as Distinctly Home and Hudson North, court documents reveal. But the deal does not include the Zellers discount brand that Hudson’s Bay relaunched in 2023.
Canada’s oldest retailer will be back in court on June 3 to seek approval for the deal, which was reached on May 15 after Hudson’s Bay failed to find a buyer or investor that would continue operating the retail chain in some form as a going concern.
Court documents filed on Monday reveal that the deal includes a vast collection of trademarks.
Those include the name of the company, and logos for HBC and The Bay, as well as the company crest featuring two stags and a shield.
The list of acquired marks also includes slogans such as “The Official Store of Christmas,” “More than you came for,” and “It’s hard not to think of the Bay,” and the rights to the Bay Days name, widely recognized for the retailer’s seasonal sales.
The deal also includes private labels such as Nordic Fleece, Black Brown 1826, Distinctly Home, Hudson North, and Beaumark Appliances. The brand for defunct home goods store chain Home Outfitters is also included.
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The deal also includes designs for the company’s historic point blankets, which Hudson’s Bay used in the fur trade in the 18th century and which the stores have continued to sell. The trademarks cover a number of variations on the blankets, including a historic black-band design, stripe designs and point designs.
Other historic elements include the trademark for the company’s 1670 Royal Charter. The charter itself is part of an auction of the Hudson’s Bay art and artifacts collection, which is being held separately. The process for that auction is still in development.
Canadian Tire will also acquire a number of domain names for websites related to the Bay, as well as the names of its social-media accounts.
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The sales process for the company’s assets attracted 17 bids, 13 of them for the company’s intellectual property. The Hudson’s Bay board of directors and its financial advisor, Reflect Advisers LLC, considered various factors including the price offered and the net value of each deal, including the liabilities the bidders were willing to assume. They also considered whether bids included an irrevocable financing commitment, the factors affecting the speed and likelihood of the deal closing, and other terms.
“In addition, the Canadian Tire bid will allow for the company’s iconic marks and intellectual property to be utilized by another of Canada’s iconic retailers ensuring that an important part of the Company’s legacy will continue into the future,” Hudson’s Bay chief operating officer and chief financial officer Michael Culhane wrote in an affidavit filed with the court on Monday.
Pending court approval, the company expects the deal to close by mid-July.
